Photos: Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami

Updated 9:18 AM ET, Mon March 11, 2013

Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A police officer searches for remains in a wrecked vehicle at a beach in Namie, Japan, near the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, on Monday, March 11, the second anniversary of the tsunami. Two years ago, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake unleashed a wall of water that killed nearly 16,000 people in northeast Japan and sparked the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Police officers offer chrysanthemum flowers for tsunami victims in Namie on Monday after their search for remains of those still missing, two years after the disaster.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Police officers search for remains on the coast in Namie on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A Buddhist monk prays for tsunami victims at Arahama district in Sendai, Japan, on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – People visit a memorial altar at the Okawa elementary school where at least 70 students died in the 2011 tsunami, in Ishinomaki, Japan, on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Vehicles that were abandoned two years ago sit in a field of reeds in Namie on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Children pray during a memorial ceremony to mark the second anniversary of the disaster in Kamaishi, Japan, on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Collapsed houses still line on a street in Namie on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Buddhist monks pray at the tsunami-devastated Disaster Prevention Center in Minamisanriku, Japan, on Monday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A man mourns on Monday in front of a ship brought ashore by the 2011 tsunami in Kesennuma, Japan.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Volunteers clean pictures found in debris from the earthquake and tsunami disasters at the Tsukidate elementary school in Kesennuma, Japan, on Sunday, March 10.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Children in Minamisoma, Japan, float balloons while paying respects on Sunday, March 10, a day before the second anniversary of the disaster.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Japanese police officers dig through rubble in Miyagi Prefecture on Sunday.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Sun shines through the window of an area on Sunday that was devastated two years ago in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A laundry shop remains deserted about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility on Sunday. The earthquake knocked the power plant offline, resulting in a meltdown of three reactors.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Japanese Buddhist monks chant and pay their respects to the victims on Sunday in Minamisoma.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A devastated area stands still Sunday in Odaka, a hard-hit city within the former exclusion zone set up after the Fukushima Daiichi facility had released radiation.

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Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – An abandoned house is filled with rubbish in Odaka on Sunday.

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Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Students and volunteers light candles at Yuriage Junior High School during a commemoration ceremony on Sunday in Natori, Japan.

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Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A boy takes part in an anti-nuclear march in Tokyo on Sunday. The radiation crisis that stemmed from the earthquake and tsunami shattered public trust in nuclear power.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Visitors walk in front of a replica of the "miracle" pine tree on Sunday in Rikuzentakata. It was the last surviving pine in what was once a sprawling grove of more than 70,000, standing as a symbol of hope amid the devastation.

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Photos: Japan quake, tsunami anniversary23 photos

Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – A cemetery in Odaka has low visibility in heavy wind on Sunday. The city became a nuclear ghost town after the 2011 disaster.

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Two years after Japan earthquake, tsunami – Men sit on a bench in front of a temporary housing shelter on Thursday, March 7, in Motomiya, Fukushima Prefecture. Thousands were displaced in the aftermath of the earthquake.